Finding Joy
in sawdust
After riding the Silicone Valley internet wave for over 20 years, doing everything from racking & stacking servers to architecting, designing & building beautiful websites (and everything in between)… I felt that there was something missing in my life. While working for others & building websites to help reach someone else’s goals, set to another’s tastes was exciting… outside of work & my amazing family I had nothing of my own that brought me me happiness.
I stumbled through other related hobbies - custom computers, websites for friends, photography & gaming, but nothing clicked until I found myself covered in sawdust, the night before Christmas, making a box for my wife as a gift the next day. The joy I felt not only in the act of creating, but designing something unique was overwhelming. The smile on her face when I gave it to her the next morning… that happiness and sense of accomplishment filled filled my heart with more joy than anything I had coded with millions of lines of code.
“Making Joy” signifies both sides of that story; the joy that comes from the process of making, building or learning a new skill
…and the joy I am able to give to others as a result of receiving something that I made.
The original thought was that stepping away from the computer & making something with my hands would bring happiness… what I didn’t expect were all of the different forms that joy would take through every part of the process. The excitement from designing & planning something new. The mad humor from throwing ribbons of shavings while turning a bowl. The satisfaction when the grain reveals itself while wiping on a beautiful finish. The look of pleasure & surprise on the face of a friend when handling them something unexpected. The success of a making perfectly square box, or carving smooth bowl without sanding.
Joy followed me through every phase.
This is where you come in. Look around at the the items listed for sale, the stories recorded of past triumphs. There may be something that is perfect for you, and I hope that there is. If there isn’t, and you’d like to make your dreams a reality, reach out - I’d love to help.
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